My Mantra: Imagination by itself is like a kite blowing freely in the wind. It takes mastery of the string to transform dreams into composed realities.
It was a keenly contested battle and I was proud of how my team portrayed itself, and for everything we produced. Despite the result, I enjoyed the opportunity to bring forth my creative side, and was delighted when the judges once again declared the guacamole and bison tartar as the best dish of the evening.
My sincere thanks to the Food Network, the judges, my fellow contestants and to you my dear fans. Jose I wish you every success.
And now, my march up the staircase continues.
My Mantra: Maintaining integrity is akin to keeping your word.
I believe in living life to the fullest, facing challenge head on and taking risks, and that is exactly how I presented my plate. My kaiseki was big to represent the fullness of my life. That in itself was a risk because my presentation was unique, but the behind-the-scenes comment from Dr. Hattori that "I redefined nouveau Japanese cuisine" validated my decision. I was also humbled receiving this praise from someone I respect so deeply.
I was thrilled the judges liked my food, presentation and story. That my clam dish was singled out as the best dish of the entire competition was a huge achievement as I head towards the kitchen stadium for the final challenge this coming Sunday. I look forward to seeing you there.
My Mantra: Each tongue to its own umami.
This was a very interesting cooking experience. It was my first visit to Japan, and was surreal to meet Chef Hattori, the culinary historian for the original Iron Chef! Cooking at his boutique culinary school was amazing, and also very different because the previous challenges were all in a supersized kitchen, whereas this was perhaps one fourth the size.
I was really happy to have started on a high note by having Chef Morimoto, who is considered the ultimate authority of Japanese cuisine in America, select me as the winner and look forward to seeing you all again next Sunday.
My Mantra: To be calm and focused is critical when you're under pressure.
Traditional Indian cuisine takes hours to prepare, and part of the challenge on The Next Iron Chef is that ingredients and equipment are limited and have to be shared. This forces us to be smart, focused and, often, to change plans midstream. Chefs were grabbing and blaming each other, some for the limited ingredients, some for not realizing there were duplicate items not being used throughout kitchen stadium. Add to this the producer's desire to maximize drama via the edit. All of this combined together is what made this episode the "pressure" challenge.
Ethnicity doesn't give competitors a clear advantage, particularly when the pressure is so intense. If that were the case, Chef Trevino and Chef Garces would have had the clear upper hand during the Mexican challenge last week. There's a little irony that I bested them in the Mexican challenge and Chef Garces bested me in the Indian challenge.
In the end, those of us who are the most nimble and inventive in making do with what we have at our disposal do the best in each challenge. This week that was Chef Garces. Congratulations Jose, see you this Sunday in Tokyo.
My Mantra: Life forces one to adapt and being adaptable makes life richer.
Seeing a bare kitchen stadium touched a deep chord for me. When I first came to the United States as a student at CIA, I had my life packed in two suitcases. For this challenge, there was no margin for error... I had to fill my shopping bags with everything I would need. I think my life experience gave me an advantage because I had to adapt my cooking for this challenge to make the best with only what I had on hand.
Many of my colleagues and I agree that this has been the hardest challenge to date. I am delighted to have won for, as Alton Brown put it, stretching the secret ingredient to the fullest. See you next week.
My Mantra: There's no need to recreate the wheel, but it can be made better through innovation. Continually making the wheel smoother and faster is a key to success.
This sure was one of the scariest battles for me. As Donatella Arpaia had said, when one takes a risk one can fall. I took a huge risk, but the thing that put me in fourth place was breaking free from the pack. Inventive presentation, in addition to innovative recipes helped me stand out. I'm happy the risk was recognized as innovation, ultimately paying off in my favor. See you next week.
My Mantra: Draw attention with simplicity and precision
It felt great to win the praise of my peers in the first challenge, and getting to select my cuisine of preference for the second challenge was a great advantage to help secure my place for next week. I'm looking forward to the next challenge. See you there.
My Mantra: Fear Feeds Fear
It was absolutely lovely to know the judges got my fearless approach to life, and that I could showcase that in my food. I was sorry to see Chef Greenspan leave, but it definitely puts a sense of reality to the show when someone gets eliminated. One must always stay humble and be thankful to have started strong.
